Intentions to Marry, 1905 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840428, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 244

District of Rongotea Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar James Penney

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

9 October 1905

Robert Busswell Sutton
Sarah Eliza Richmond

Robert Busswell Sutton
Sarah Eliza Richmond
💍 1905/4174

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

24
19

Rongotea
Rongotea

5 years
19 years

Church of England, Rongotea

05/6719

Walter Richmond, father

9 October 1905

Rev. H. F. Wilson

No	61
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Busswell Sutton	Sarah Eliza Richmond
	💍 1905/4174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rongotea
Folio	05/6719
Consent	Walter Richmond, father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. F. Wilson

18 November 1905

John Ronaldson
Meta Revell

John Ronaldson
Meta Revell
💍 1905/3443

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
27

Rongotea
Rongotea

5 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Rongotea

05/5872

18 November 1905

James Penney, Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	18 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ronaldson	Meta Revell
	💍 1905/3443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rongotea
Folio	05/5872
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1905
Officiating Minister	James Penney, Registrar

27 November 1905

John Bouverie Merrett
Bertha Louisa Jarvis

John Bouverie Merrett
Bertha Louisa Jarvis
💍 1905/3426

Widower
Spinster

Accountant

31
30

Rongotea
Rongotea

4 days
3 months

Residence of John Jarvis, Rongotea

05/5870

27 November 1905

Rev. C. A. Sims

No	63
Date of Notice	27 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bouverie Merrett	Bertha Louisa Jarvis
	💍 1905/3426
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Jarvis, Rongotea
Folio	05/5870
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Sims

12 December 1905

Charles Morrell Rowe
Edith Helen Cockburn

Charles Morrell Rowe
Edith Helen Cockburn
💍 1905/3437

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20
22

Rongotea
Rongotea

20 years
22 years

Residence of James Robinson Cockburn, Rongotea

05/5871

Thomas Rowe, father

12 December 1905

Rev. C. A. Sims

No	64
Date of Notice	12 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Morrell Rowe	Edith Helen Cockburn
	💍 1905/3437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Robinson Cockburn, Rongotea
Folio	05/5871
Consent	Thomas Rowe, father
Date of Certificate	12 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Sims

18 December 1905

Francis Howard Buchanan
Grace Helen Buchanan

Francis Howard
Grace Helen Buchanan
💍 1905/3444

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
19

Rongotea
Rongotea

6 years
19 years

Gospel Hall, Rongotea

05/5873

E. B. Buchanan, father

18 December 1905

Thomas Rowe

No	65
Date of Notice	18 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Howard Buchanan	Grace Helen Buchanan
BDM Match (80%)	Francis Howard	Grace Helen Buchanan
	💍 1905/3444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Gospel Hall, Rongotea
Folio	05/5873
Consent	E. B. Buchanan, father
Date of Certificate	18 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Thomas Rowe

29 December 1905

Dudley Innes McKelvie
Margaret Mary McKelvie

Dudley Innes
Marguerite Mary McKelvie
💍 1906/1855

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

31
21

Rongotea
Rongotea

6 days
6 days

Church of England, Rongotea

06/560

29 December 1905

Rev. Dean

No	66
Date of Notice	29 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dudley Innes McKelvie	Margaret Mary McKelvie
BDM Match (70%)	Dudley Innes	Marguerite Mary McKelvie
	💍 1906/1855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rongotea
Folio	06/560
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).